C-137's Closure
by TheWaffleKid
Summary: Summer from Earth Dimension C-137 has seen and been through some shit. It started with the Cronenberg virus that left her stranded with her parents with no hope for a cure. It continued with the Federation and their mission to capture the most notorious outlaw, her grandpa Rick Sanchez. And it ended with her helping him escape their clutches after SHE caught him...What now?
1. Chapter 1

Summer Smith let out a sigh that seemed to dispel of all her worry, fear, anger, and aggression. For the first time in over two years she had no purpose, _no mission,_ and the lack thereof brought about a strange feeling of…peace. It was a long-awaited sensation she never knew she'd been hungering for and it eased away two years' worth of pain. The ginger closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, reveling in her newfound freedom.

 _No more fighting….No more hunting….Nothing. I'm free._

She would have stayed still for hours—basking in the equanimity, allowing her alert composure to drift like away like fog—when she was asked that single question.

" _What are you going to do now?"_ Rick Sanchez, her disregardful grandfather, sipped from his seemingly bottomless flask in a nonchalant fashion. Something tightened in Summer's stomach and that fleeting moment of equilibrium was gone.

 _He was so cruel, snatching away what little consolation Summer earned after everything she's been through. So cruel…_

His words woke her from her dreamlike state, bringing her back to reality, and the question begged for an answer. _What_ _ **was**_ _she going to do?_ She had no home, no family—at least not like before. Rick's indifferent decisions made sure of that. With her most recent betrayal to the Federation, she was positive she would be on the run for the rest of her life.

 _Like him._

Summer turned her head to look over her shoulder. In a strange way, she and Rick were spitting images of each other and she was disappointed that her life ended up mirroring his. A rebel, forever on the run.

"To be honest, I don't really know."

The sun was setting over the horizon. A chuckle almost spilled out of her as she remembered her dad's warning about looking directly at the sun. _The light will make you go blind,_ he'd said. Compared to everything she'd been through, going blind didn't seem so bad.

 _What are you going to do now?_

Summer wondered if she ever really admired a sunset like she was doing now. She couldn't remember much pre-Cronenberg only her phone, social media, and her pathetic need to fit in with the popular kid, really a mediocre life. Now that she could value all the little things in life, grief struck her when she realized that she could never value them completely because _**it wasn't her dimension.**_

She'd never be able to fit in another reality, another world. Even if Grandpa Rick could find someplace for her to stay, she knew this detached feeling would always haunt her. He'd doomed her to the life of a runaway. A demented idea balled together in her mind and it made that knotted worry in her gut dissipate, allowing peace to find her once again.

 _I know what to do and if anyone could do it,_ _ **he**_ _can._ The ginger inhaled once again. _I'm okay with it._

"Rick, I want to ask for a favor." He had a mildly curious expression as she faced him, reaching down to unholster her weapon. All of the work she'd done for her mission, all the scouting, tracking, and hunting flashed in her mind as she stared at the ray gun with an open palm.

 _I'm okay with it._

She grabbed the barrel with her other hand and reached across give the gun to Rick, keeping a firm grip on it as he tried to put it away in his lab coat with his other gadgets.

 _He'll do it, he doesn't care anyway._

She raised her hand, closing her eyes as the cool muzzle came to a stop on her forehead. _She couldn't even look at the gun or at Rick in her final moments._ Thank goodness he was there; she wouldn't have the spine to do it to herself, but it was okay because soon she'd join the darkness that enveloped her vision. "Shoot me."

 _I'm okay with it. I'm ready._

The few nanoseconds she spent standing there felt extremely long and dragged out. She quietly laughed at the expression that said that anyone who faced death saw their life flash before their very eyes. All that torture, all that pain had numbed her more than she realized and the cool spot disappeared mid-thought.

"W-w-what the fuck kind of favor is that?"

Summer's eyes snapped open and took in the angry mess that was supposed to be her _careless grandpa._

"Why ask me?" he was frown was deep and his eyes were wide, boring into her for an answer, drool dripping down his bottom lip. He looked furious, was it because he….cared? "Huh?" he grunted forcefully.

"I've got nowhere else to go, no home to go to, and because I helped you escape prison the Galactic Federation is after me too. I can't stay on another planet; I won't be able to survive out there." Summer smiled softly, reassuringly, and she hoped it would project her acknowledgement of her fate. She was ready and if he couldn't see that, she'd have to fight a little dirty and rub salt in the wound. "Besides, you already killed me when you left us behind on Earth."

That man never failed to surprise her, making it hard for her to read him. First, his _outrage_ at her request and now, a nonchalant roll of his eyes as he shoved the gun in the inner pockets of his lab coat. "That doesn't mean you go on a suicidal craze, _Summer._ "

The way he rolled out her name, that sarcastic droll, gave her a pang of nostalgia because _he used to say Morty's name like that too._

"You can stay here with me and Morty, w-w-we can get rid of this reality's Summer and—"

The ginger shook her head and spoke sternly. "The last thing I want to do is take this Summer's life away. Or any others. I don't…"

Memories flashed to those times she wanted to _die,_ to when she was _tortured, lied to, manipulated._ She hadn't known she was on the verge of being killed until the general of the Galactic Federation had that _genius idea_ of using her to find Rick Sanchez, hoping that Rick would have a soft spot for his granddaughter. He hoped it would make it easier to bring him in. All of her screams from pain, fear and anger rang in her head, all those ungodly times when she was strapped up and shocked near to death, all those yells she endured during the Federations military training, all those times she curled up and cried as she went to sleep….No Summer—nobody—deserved to go through all that deceit and suffering. If she could spare someone from all that, she'd do it with no hesitation.

"I don't want them to go through what I did."

Rick reached in his coat, misguiding Summer to believe he was retrieving his flask, but he pulled out his portal gun. "Then I'll find a reality where you could take another Summer's place, one that's already gone so you won't miss a beat."

Summer could have sworn that she heard an undertone of urgency, as if he were trying to change her mind because again, _he actually cared._ "You really think I'll be able to just forget everything that's happened? All the things Mom and Dad had to do—What _I_ had to do—to survive in our dimension? Everything the Federation did to me when they found me in that intergalactic homeless shelter?"

 _Those high amperages, the jolts, the way she gripped onto her straps and threw her head back when she screamed—_

Rick shrugged, displaying that casual behavior again. "So? I _guarantee_ I've been through twice as much shit as you have and you don't see me bitching about how I can forget it. The answer's simple: just don't think about it."

Summer didn't doubt her grandpa had been through worse, seen, heard, experienced the unthinkable. She briefly wondered what it was as he produced his flask and uncapped it, taking a drink and burping afterwards.

"So you aren't going to end me," she stated flatly.

"Obviously fucking not. You're coming with me and Morty so I can fix this shit-storm."

There was no point in trying to argue with him, past experiences have taught her that, but she was also on low energy and she had no desire to argue. She gestured for his flask and stared as the sun sunk behind the horizon. "….You know, as much as I love the colors of the sunset, I don't like it."

"Why not?"

The ginger took a swig from the flask and recalled the first time she slammed the van door shut and how she felt like she sealed her fate as a struggling survivor on a contaminated planet, fighting with her parents with no hope.

"Cuz that's when those monsters attacked."

* * *

 **I wish I was a REALLY motivated writer so I could write the story before this little...creation. It never sat well with me, how Rick and Morty just abandoned their family in a dimension they completely fucked over. I mean, Beth and Jerry were fine so I didn't care about them, but Summer? She could have been taken along to their new home.**

 **I dunno. I have a short attention span and as much as I love to write, I can't create many chapters to a single story or I lose interest. I like to emphasize on important moments and such. Wish I had the skill to really EMPHASIZE on said moments, but again, short attention, lose interest really fast, I have to get moving with _le action._**


	2. Chapter 2

_Summer left her parents to give them some "alone time." She couldn't pinpoint it, but ever since the whole Cronenberg ordeal, her parents have been acting like a happily married couple. Although Summer was glad for them, it was troubling that it took the destruction of their planet to make their betrothment work. The problem now was that instead of arguments, they got carried away with their dirty talk and it always turned into a loud make out session. Gross. Summer wasn't sure whether she preferred the arguing at this point, but on the positive note: they wouldn't notice her absence. She needed some time to herself today._

 _ **Just an hour or two, then I'll go back.**_

 _She was so afraid and nervous that she gripped the gun tightly and if one looked closely, they could see that her hands were shaking. Hoping she wouldn't run into those Cronenbergs, she snuck through the streets until she finally made it to their house._

 _The first night those monsters appeared, they knocked down the front door, demanding to see Morty. Summer didn't stick around after that, opting to sprint out before she got hurt, but she could see now that they pretty much trashed the house. Their appliances were broken and thrown across the floor, tables were flipped and drawers were left open. In the dining room, Summer noticed that Morty had been torn out of the family photo. The ginger's throat tightened up and she could feel tears forming in her eyes. Gently holding the photo, she slowly scanned around the disaster._

 _ **Why couldn't we have a normal lif—**_

A pat on the back brought her back to the present. Rick was walking through the garage of the wreck-free house. Seeing it whole again was making Summer reminisce and her heart sank to her stomach. She was home but…..

 _This isn't really my home._

"C'mon Summer," Morty spoke, his brown eyes shining sympathetically. "This house is yours just as much as it's ours."

Could he honestly just believe that? This dimension wasn't theirs, it couldn't be their anything least of all their home.

"Th-They won't kick you out. Rick won't let them."

She found comfort in the fact that her brother was trying to make her feel better, but his words were an empty promise. After what happened in C-137, she doubted she could trust Rick ever again. Morty got out of the spaceship and Summer followed him through the garage into the house. She looked around the halls in silent awe, taking in the details, and she ignored the memories of their actual home in comparison to this one. Quiet chatter was heard and as she saw Rick round the corner to go in the dining room and she became nervous, unsure of what to expect. _Would they treat her like a stranger? Would she make a good first impression?_

Summer never experienced an out-of-body moment in her life, but that's what it felt like the second her eyes laid on the entire family eating dinner at the table. Dad was at one end, Mom at the other, and….the other Summer was sitting in her usual spot ( _their_ usual spot, more like). Her back was facing C-137 Summer, so she was confused when her parents made shocked exclamations.

"Who the hell is that?!" Jerry (would it have been weird to call him dad?) said.

"Dad, did you clone Summer?" Beth asked sternly, turning to look at Rick, who had gone to the pantry to retrieve a plate. The other Summer looked up from her phone and turned to look at whatever it was her dad was looking at. C-137 Summer couldn't believe that that girl used to be—was, is, whatever—her. Her bright eyes made her seem so young, so innocent, so…ignorant _._

 _Did I used to look like that too?_

"Whoa! Why is there another me in the house?"

He didn't even look at them when he addressed them. " _That_ is Summer from Earth Dimension C-137. It's all fucked up because the people turned into undistinguishable creatures called Cronenbergs." He brought his plate over to the dinner table and took his usual seat across from the other Summer, reaching across the platters to serve himself food. "She's crashing here until I find her another reality to live in."

Anger began to bubble in her chest as C-137 noticed that Rick kept himself and Morty out of the story to cover their tracks. Deep down, she registered it as him disowning her and it didn't help her fury when Jerry narrowed his eyes at Rick. "Oh since _you're_ crashing here rent-free, you think it's okay for you to bring more of your friends?"

"Jerry!" Beth snapped.

"Wow, you're such an asshole." Rick froze in the middle of putting a spoonful of macaroni and cheese on his plate and looked at Jerry with half-lidded eyes. "Y-You do realize that she's still _your_ daughter right?"

"I'm standing right here, _Dad._ " C-137 practically spat the word out. She was unsure if the family froze from hearing the venom in the word or from hearing her talk for the first time. Either way, she didn't care. "If it's _such_ a burden for me to stay over one night, I'll go to a hotel and stay there instead."

Beth threw Jerry another dirty glare and looked at C-137 with a sympathetic expression. "I'm so sorry about him, would you…like to sit down and eat with us?"

After directing her own dark look towards Rick (because he was definitely not off the hook), C-137 went to grab her own plate with Morty. "Sure. Thanks."

* * *

 _She was tasked with getting first-aid kits at the store while her parents went to grab other supplies they needed. Summer opened her pillow case and used an arm to swipe off medical supplies from the shelves until it was full. The Smith's agreed to meet up at their truck outside after they got the supplies they were assigned, so Summer rushed to get to there, completely missing one of the Cronenbergs just chilling in a car. One of its long slimy tentacles (they weren't octopus tentacles, but that's about as close of a description as one could get) managed to loop itself around Summer's ankle and it lifted her off the ground. Her heart stopped and she let out an ear-piercing scream, the supplies falling and sprinkling all over the floor. She was above the roofless car and the monster's mouth (what she assumed was its mouth of course) opened._

" _No, no! Don't eat me!"_

 _Everything was happening so fast, she couldn't process the fact that TWO OTHER Cronenbergs had appeared out of nowhere and split up, the bigger blob jumping on the car and attacking the Cronenberg inside. The smaller one was more focused on tackling the tentacle, making it so that its grip loosened on Summer until it finally dropped her. With another scream, Summer turned her head and prepared to crash onto the pavement, when the smaller blob caught her. Actually CAUGHT HER._

" _Stupid motherfucker!" the bigger creature yelled in a familiar voice. "Pick on someone your own fucking size!"_

" _Rick, I got her, let's go!"_

 _ **Rick?!**_ _Summer couldn't distinguish the shapes on the car, she couldn't tell which Cronenberg was which, but if that was Grandpa Rick….Her eyes widened and she looked down at the smaller one that held her within its own tentacle things._ _ **Is this Mort—**_

Her finger's tightened over the edge of the sink as she was hunched over it, wrapped in a bathing towel. If it weren't for Cronenberg Rick and Morty saving her that day….she wouldn't have been there, wouldn't have had the second chance at a normal life (which even then, was an uncertain feat). Looking up, she swiped the mirror once to clean it of the fog and she felt empty when she realized her reflection seemed foreign to her. She looked the same, her expression was simply…haunting. She'd been still for so long, she was beginning to feel cold and she shivered slightly. But she couldn't move, she didn't want to. Being in the house was stirring up numerous nostalgic memories and emotions. It was beginning to tire her out.

Forcing herself to change, she picked up her uniform from the floor and got out of the bathroom. After the family disbanded from the dining room to start their hygienic routines, Rick had told Summer that she was sleeping in his room since he didn't really rest anyway. The other Summer had given her the extra pajamas at Beth's request. C-137 felt awkward holding her balled up uniform and she quickly walked to Rick's room to avoid talking to someone else because goodness knows it was just horribly uncomfortable talking to the other Summer. They were the same person yet her counterpart had a younger, snobbier perspective that C-137 just couldn't bring herself to destroy.

She felt more at ease once she closed Rick's door, even with his little "conspiracy theory" wall which was crowded with pictures and connected with strings. Dumping her clothes at the foot of Rick's cot, she went around exploring his room a little by opening drawers and messing with his microscope. In the end, she hadn't discovered anything interesting and went to lay down, draping an arm over her eyes. As tired as she was, sleep was obviously the last thing that was going to happen to her that night, a fact that was frustrating in of itself because of the countless times where she'd _wished_ to have a bed—or time—for a good night's rest. What made it worse was the combination of silence and darkness, which seemingly amplified her memories, making them ten times as vivid as they usually would be. She and her mind were acting like a bored person flipping through channels on TV.

 _Summer's heart sank down to the pit of her stomach as the green portal opened in front of her, possibly for the final time. She wished it could have been for a regular adventure or, even better, that Grandpa Rick and Morty could have been leading the way to this strange promise of a new life. Of course, she had her parents as an option but deep down, she knew they were better off here on Earth. They were finally happy. They would be able to survive here better than in space, especially with Cronenberg Rick and Morty on the look-out for them._

" _Summer, are you sure you don't want to go with Beth and Jerry?" Cronenberg Grandpa asked._

 _She opened her mou—_

 **Nope.**

 _A loud BANG made Summer jolt out of her bed and when someone yelled out, "It's the Feds!" amongst the screaming, she scrambled to get into action. She chose to play it smart and not take the risk of being caught by saving time and running with her shoes in hand. Some of the people in the shelter were small time thieves and such, which was never really a motive for the police force (especially the Galactic Feds) to search the premises. The reason they did that day was because they followed a lead from a bust on nearby planet that happened to be under their jurisdiction. And it led them to the shelter, the temporary hiding place of the most wanted fugitive's granddaughter._

 _Cronenberg Grandpa had warned her about the Federation before her departure. He told her what they'd do to her if they found her which was why out of everyone scurrying away that night, she was probably the most elusive. But it didn't do her any good. There were too many. Two of them had surprised her and as they arrested her, she screamed and fought with everything she had._

" _No! NO—"_

 **Nope.**

" _Please," she choked out amidst her sobs, her voice hoarse from all the crying and screaming. "I'm not lying to you, I don't know where he is."_

 _She shook her head and kept it hung as she didn't have the force to lift it. "I d-don't…"_

 _Dry sobs racked her body. She didn't have more tears. How much longer she could live through this, she didn't know, but she prayed that this would be the time where they saw the truth and set her free._

" _We know, Ms. Summer," said an old, rough voice that just RADIATED authority. The voice she grew to hate—_

 **Nope.** Frowning, C-137 turned to her side.

 _She was with the miscellaneous graduating class—the lowest ranking group you could be in. No one said that of course, but the Gromflomites made it clear every moment they could. As a result, Summer's least favorite times of day was chow where the mess halls were basically a battlefield._

" _General Vaunting. Galactic Federation," the voice announced over the speakers, as he had for the other officers of the Feds. All the graduates snapped to attention and the General's voice replaced the announcer._

" _Unity. Strength. Loyalty," he said in that stern tone._

 _Summer's hand curled into a fist and with quick movements, she pounded her shoulder before saluting._

" _UNITY. STRENGTH. LOYA—"_

 **Nope.** Summer growled in frustration and sat up. The only break in the dark was light seeping through the cracks of the door, which was better than nothing. Either way it was official; she wasn't getting sleep anytime soon.

* * *

 **Here we gooo! I don't think I have much to say about this chapter. Just that it's pretty long, and it WAS supposed to be longer, but I decided to make it into another chapter. Yeah...I'm still drawing up a blank on an explanation or something. O_O**


	3. Chapter 3

Alcohol. If she drank enough of it, she'd be able to numb herself long enough for her exhaustion to kick in and knock her out for a few hours. Drinking to the point of oblivion wasn't an option as she didn't like the idea of being incapacitated, plus she didn't want to deal with a killer hangover come morning. For the better part of an hour, she argued on waiting until everyone was asleep or just going and confronting Rick about her problem right then and there. Without a doubt, he'd be in the garage way past everybody's bedtime so in the end, it didn't matter whether she went now or at three in the morning. Sitting around for another six hours wasn't an option so she crept downstairs and just as she made it into the hallway, the door to the garage opened. A pure reaction from the heat of the moment, she jumped around the corner and her mind scrambled for an explanation to her presence.

To her relief, whoever came out of the garage decided to go to the kitchen and Summer snuck a peek around the corner, briefly watching Morty walk away. Suddenly she felt _left out,_ disowned, unaccounted for, but most importantly, angry. Of course Rick and Morty would be together, the fact that there were Cronenberg versions of them served as a reminder that _she would_ _ **always**_ _be the odd one out,_ the one that could be forgotten and left behind.

 _Rick didn't even mention that C-137 was_ _ **his**_ _dimension too, that_ _ **he**_ _was the one responsible for what happened,_ Summer thought. She hadn't confronted him about what happened at dinner because the whole "familial experience" lightened her mood and the subject was all but forgotten as he offered his room for rest. Thus, at the start of this little mission, a part of her was hoping that no one would be in the garage so she could snoop around undisturbed and retrieve what she wanted, but as she opened the door she looked forward to seeing Rick sitting there to give him a piece of her mind.

Sure enough, he was tinkering on a project with his back facing her. "Out, Morty."

Once he heard footsteps _inside_ the garage, he turned to narrow his eyes at the boy, taking advantage of the break to pull his flask out for a sip. "Damn it, Morty. Didn't I—Summer? What do you want?"

"You're a coward, _Grandpa_ ," she snarled right off the bat and stomped over to him. "Even though they _think_ you had nothing to do with that virus, there's a bitch called karma who's coming for your ass sooner or later."

It surprised her how quickly that came out, considering she only heard it once between a fight these aliens had at the shelter. Using her fist as support on his workbench, she leaned forward and menacingly pointed a finger at him. "Why didn't you tell them you and Morty were from the same reality as me?"

Her outburst didn't affect the scientist's want for a drink and he sat back against his workbench, making a face. "C'mon Summer, use that brain of yours. Out of you two, I know you actually have one. I don't need them freaking out aEUGHnd asking me stupid questions, I already get that idiotic behavior from your brother. Y-y-you two are a big enough of nuisance as it is, I don't need the whole family growing into a gigantic thorn in my ass."

Tucking the flask away in his lab coat, Rick turned back to his project and left Summer pointing at his back.

 _Not important enough to acknowledge directly._

"Now I don't know if you've heard about _The Personal Space_ show, but the title's self-explanatory. I doubt you need to watch an episode to remind yourself what that is since again, you have more of a brain than Morty does."

Summer ignored that and went back to the issue at hand. "And if they do, what? You're going to leave them behind like you did with us? Or do you want to destroy the planet first?"

Rick kept working and he burped. "If you came here to argue about that like a stupid housewife, I suggest you leave. I don't have time to deal with it and I also just don't want to deal with it."

"Don't like being called out on your bullshit?"

"I'm not telling you a third time, _Summer,_ " he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I swear that I'll freeze you and leave you here for the night if you keep that shit up."

"And here I was beginning to think that you cared." Summer walked around the workbench and stood perpendicular to him. "I want some alcohol. I came here because I know you have some stashed _somewhere._ "

Rick looked at her with that half-lidded gaze and sized her up, misleading her into believing he'd tell her to fuck off and go to sleep. She was prepared to fully argue against him when instead, Rick set his tool down and rolled back in his chair, begrudgingly muttering, "Fine."

He reached three drawers under his workbench, opening the bottom one which rang out a _CLANG_ that let Summer know a few glass bottles were stored there. Rick pulled one out, rolled back to the table and set it in front of his granddaughter. As she picked it up to read the label, Rick returned his attention to his project. "You're staying here to drink that because I don't know what type of a drunk you'll be, your parents'll bitch if they find out I gave that to you _and_ I don't want to run outta that whiskey cuz then I hafta make a trip to the liquor store. Just don't annoy me or I'll kick you out without the alcohol."

There weren't any other chairs in the garage, but Summer didn't say anything. He wouldn't care and he'd more than likely snap if she brought it up. Fuck it. She was about to take a seat on the ground when Rick stopped her.

"Before you sit down, go turn on that iHome your brother has in here," he said, pointing with his tool over to the shelves on the left. "It'll distract me from knowing that you're corrupting my workspace."

"Anything in particular you want to listen to?"

"Just turn it on and push play. It's connected to a USB that has music on it."

Summer complied and sat down in front of the shelf, deciding the spot was as good as any since she'd be on the floor. The electric guitar from the song was a little too upbeat for Summer's current mood, but she shrugged it off and unscrewed the bottle, quickly taking a small swig to determine how much she'd like this whiskey.

 _[Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo]_

It burned and she made a face. Why did people drink again? "Ugh."

 _[You've got your mother in a whirl, she's not sure if you're a boy or a girl]_

 _[Hey babe, your hair's alright, hey babe, let's go out tonight]_

 _[You like me, and I like it all, we like dancing and we look divine]_

The pair didn't say a single word, which didn't bother them much. Rick focused on his project and Summer spent her time forcing down drink after drink until the whiskey finally didn't taste as bad. She leaned her head back, expecting the memories to hit her again, but the music seemed to ward them off. The upbeat rhythm warmed up to her and she moved her foot with the tempo. She became positive of two things, one: she decided she liked the song. Two: it suited Grandpa Rick and Summer couldn't pinpoint why. When the song was nearing its end, the alcohol started to take its toll on her. Her response time was slow and her body felt heavy. Frowning, she lifted her hands to look at them and she tried to make them rigid, but they wavered like a thin branch in the wind.

"Thhe fuuck," she muttered in annoyance. But this is what she wanted, right?

 _['Cause you've torn your dress, and your face is a mess]_

 _[Ooo, your face is a mess, ooo, ooo, so how could they know?]_

 _[Eh, eh, how could they know?]_

Summer took another gulp of whiskey and moved her limbs about to experiment on her sluggishness. She'd never been drunk before and she compared it to moving underwater. "Amazing."

Next, she stood and bent down to retrieve the bottle when she realized she wanted another drink, almost losing her footing in the process. "Whoa shit."

"Don't blame me if you get hurt dicking around," Rick said without looking up at her.

She flipped him off. "Fuck off, Rick. I'm done depending on you for _sheeit._ "

"Uh-huh. That includes the alcohol, right?"

Summer paused. Fuck. He had a point. "…Fuck you."

Another gulp. Another song. She smiled and pointed at the iHome. "I know this song, I know this song! I just _don't_ know the naamme."

"Yeah, you wouldn't. You're too young. Now shut up."

Summer hummed along to the song and stumbled around in the garage, drunkenly rummaging through Rick's possessions.

 _[When I die and they lay me to rest, gonna go to the place that's the best]_

 _[When I lay me down to die, goin' up to the spirit in the sky]_

 _[Goin' up to the spirit in the sky, that's where I'm gonna go when I die]_

Junk, pure junk, unless Summer's intoxication was making her more impatient. She shrugged and took another drink. _Whatever._ The gadgets on Rick's workbench caught her eye and she stumbled over, careful not to touch him. She was probably successful because he didn't acknowledge her presence so she made herself busy and moved the objects here and there until she came upon a ray gun.

" _Rick, I want to ask for a favor…"_

The words rang out in her head and she squeezed her eyes shut, bringing a hand up to pull on the roots of her hair.

" _Shoot me."_

But he didn't, he couldn't. Summer almost snorted. _**He couldn't?**_ _That would be nice._

 _ **But you could now,**_ a voice whispered. _**The whiskey makes it so that it won't even hurt and the misery will end.**_

Summer tilted her head. That gun was gleaming under the garage's lights and it looked more appealing for some reason.

 _ **Just pull the trigger and you won't have to worry about your future anymore. The Galactic Federation won't find you again. Rick won't disappoint you. It'll all be fine.**_

 _[Never been a sinner I never sinned, I got a friend in Jesus]_

 _[So you know that when I die, he's gonna set me up with the spirit in the sky]_

 _[Oh set me up with the spirit in the sky, that's where I'm gonna go when I die]_

Summer wasn't a devoted Christian, but the thought that Jesus would save her from this and take her to the sky sounded relieving. Rick didn't believe in religion. She remembered the morning when he told her that there was no God, that it would be easier to rip that band-aid right then and there. Having an open mind was her generation's specialty so she didn't mind his comment, didn't bat an eye. Wasn't bothered by it now as she picked up the ray gun and raised it slowly, as her intoxication was making it a lot heavier than it seemed—

Rick snatched the gun out of her hand, surprising her greatly and making her stumbled back. "Whoa!"

"No more whiskey for you," he muttered angrily, swiping the bottle out of her other hand.

He was so fast—or perhaps she was so drunk—that she couldn't react and if she did, she'd have been too slow to be successful. Instead, she winced and covered her ears at the sound of the items being slammed on the table. _Did he really slam them or were her ears just sensitive?_ The thought barely crossed her mind as he roughly grabbed her arm and practically dragged her out of the garage, grumbling under his breath the entire time, the words coming out too fast for Summer's affected mind to absorb all of them. She grasped a few phrases, _waste of time_ being one of them.

 _Wait, if this is a waste of time, why do it at all? The gun could save it._ Preoccupied with the thought, her feet jumbled up and she almost fell face first into the flight of stairs, but Rick pulled her back up, wrapping her arm around his neck and supporting the majority of her weight while they walked.

"Ffuck," she mumbled.

"Shut up, _S-Summer._ "

"Rick," she said, "we haftuh-haftuh hide Rick. They could commee any minute."

She wanted to reach the front door, wanted to get downstairs to make sure all the entrances were covered, but he wouldn't let her! It was frustrating! "Rick, come on!"

"We're fine, Summer!" he hissed to keep from waking the others. "No one's getting to us! Now shut the fuck up."

Well shit, maybe he checked the entrances already. She stopped struggling against him and let him lead her to his room. It as his room, right? The second he opened the door, Summer straightened herself up and dusted her pajamas off. "I'll take care of it from here, Rrick. I don't wannna waste more of yer precious _time._ "

She stumbled into the room, her arms stretched out in front of her. Where was the light switch again? Did he even show her? Wait, was she going to run into the cot, was it to the right? As she blindly searched for it, there was a click and the lights turned on. "Ouch."

"Just get in the fucking cot before you hurt yourself, Summer," Rick said.

"Go!" Summer pointed at the door. "I can take care of it from here."

She tried to stand straight, but wavered slightly and as a result, broke out into a giggly fit. "I can't—I can't even stand. This is awesome. Wait, no it's not. I won't be able tuh run if they get in."

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "They're not going to get in, Summer, I already fucking told you."

Summer frowned at him as she crawled on the cot. "Why are you getting mmad? I told you tuh leave, didn't I?"

He watched her settle down and flicked the lights off before turning to leave.

"Wait no, Rick, the lights!" she said in a panicked tone, immediately sitting up. "Turn them on, turn them on!"

He quickly flicked the light switch and he turned on her. "Sssshh! What the hell are you so afraid of that the lights have to be on, huh?!"

He said it so fast and so low that she almost didn't understand what he said. She could barely feel her head shaking slowly and her hand came up to her forehead. "I don't, I don't wanna remember. I don't—I don't…"

She heard him sigh. "All right, all right, I get it. Give me a second."

He went to his drawers—the ones where all that boring stuff was at, Summer remembered looking through them—and he turned to face her with a metal ball. She frowned as she watched him mess with it. What was it going to do? It didn't work, she pressed the button on it and everything! But somehow, he made it turn on and a bright display of a solar system burst from the ball. It was so pretty, her mouth dropped and she gaped around in awe. "Wwoooww."

He turned it on….for her. Summer smiled softly and watched her grandpa walk to the light switch and flick it off once again. The room was well lit with the system (which in fact, looked better now that it was dark) so the transition didn't make her flinch. Light from the hallway shone from behind him and she swore that he never seemed as heroic as in that moment. His help almost made her forgive him for leaving them…leaving _her_ …on C-137.

He was leaving again, stepping through the frame and grabbing the doorknob to shut her from the outside. _Or…keep the outside from her._ He had to know, he just had to know, and the first two words tumbled out. "You know…"

She saw him pause and tilt his head in the slightest, his attention stolen by her voice.

"…You could have taken _me._ Mom and Dad were fine and happy. But not me."

Something was crawling on her cheek and Summer swiped at it, expecting a bug of some sort, but her hand was wet. Was she crying? She wiped her cheeks frantically and discovered that those were indeed _tears._ Laying back down on the cot, she dried her hands on her pajamas and tried to hide the fact that she was crying, but thankfully he didn't notice because he closed the door behind him without another word.

No one would know that that night, Rick Sanchez travelled to a remote planet to keep from waking the household—no, the whole _neighborhood_ —up with his screams of pure self-hatred.

* * *

 **First song was Rebel Rebel by David Bowie. The second was Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. I wanted to add more to the end with Rick and the whole "angry screaming" but the chapter was long enough, I was getting anxious. Oooh! Maybe I'll add it to the beginning of the next chapter because there IS something I want to develop on. ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

_Rick had given the family interdimensional goggles to stop the corrupted use of the cable he installed. It gave him a little satisfaction watching them chase after the goggles like a pack of dogs when he tossed them into the kitchen. Morty opted to stay with him to flip through the interdimensional channels instead and for some reason, that made Rick proud of the kid. Like himself, Morty understood there were bigger things in the universe, no single being could matter, and deep down Rick was also happy to just lay back and relax with his grandson. They'd been running around on crazy adventures, they hardly ever had time to just sit down and do something normal._

 _The pair flipped through the channels, intrigued by what different dimensions had to showcase, until they stopped on a show that captivated them both. Rick held off on going to the kitchen until there was a commercial and he went to one of the pantries. Without looking at the other three, he asked, "Hey, do we have any wafer cookies?"_

 _Well, spic and spam, there was a box right there. He grabbed it and started to eat one, glancing over at them and noticing Beth and Jerry's bleak expressions while Summer used the goggles. "Ooh boy. Looks like you've been checking alternate lives and realizing you don't have it as good, huh?"_

 _Summer rotated her head to decipher her surroundings in the goggles, muttering to herself, "Where am I? What is this?"_

" _That's too bad," Rick continued smugly, grinning at the adults with a cocked eyebrow. "You know, me and Morty are having a blast. We discovered a show called Ball Fondlers. I don't wanna rub it in, but you guys clearly backed the wrong conceptual horse here."_

" _Uh, Mom. Dad? I think that—" Summer gasped and covered her mouth._

 _Beth and Jerry quickly became alert while Rick merely stared at the thickening plot with an uninterested expression, downing the rest of his wafer._

" _I think I'm being tortured," she said after a few seconds._

 _Beth frowned. "What? Why are_ you _being tortured?"_

" _Why would_ Jerry _manage to star in anything after producing shitty movies?" Rick countered nonchalantly. "Your question literally has an infinite amount of answers, Beth."_

" _Wha-What the—?" By the way her forehead scrunched, it was easy to tell Summer was frowning. Out of nowhere, she yelped and yanked the goggles off so fast, it would have seemed that she had handled a hot item, and the goggles crashed on the floor. Her eyes were wide with fear and she brought her hands up to her mouth, briefly looking at Beth before hiding her face with her hands and shaking her head. "Oh my gosh, that was…that was horrible!"_

 _Beth moved to comfort her and she stroked her back while Jerry picked up the goggles (A fucking plus on parenting, Jeeerryy). "There, there, it's okay honey. You're okay."_

" _What did you see?" Jerry asked stupidly._

" _Yeah, I'm not entirely positive on this cuz I wasn't exactly father of the year, but I don't think it's the best idea to ask her what torture she just saw when she couldn't keep watching." Rick rolled his eyes. "I mean, that's common sense not Parenting 101."_

 _It was like he didn't say anything and the teen started spewing out her interdimensional peek. "Th-There were—There were, I dunno, these big bugs an-and I was on a—like a table, and they grabbed a hot stick, a piece of metal, a-and—!"_

 _She sounded like she was going to say more, but Rick didn't care to stay behind and tune in. He shrugged and headed back to the living room. "Be happy that it isn't you—"_

Rick didn't pay any mind to the vomit that stained his clothes or the glass that dug in his arm. The world was rocking back and forth and his mind felt like it was riding a merry-go-round. It kept spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning…

How much had he drank already? He couldn't remember how long he'd been at the bar for after drinking his own glass bottle and he could barely process what happened. Each time he'd blinked, time had elapsed and he ended up doing something entirely different. For instance, he'd black-out blinked a total of four times at the bar. The first time, he was getting up to go to the bathroom because he needed to hurl.

 _ **Blink.**_ He was on the floor, his hand was in something wet, and he kept spitting to get rid of an acidic flavor in his mouth.

 _ **Blink.**_ His vision was so blurry, he could barely make out the alien who had his lab coat balled in his fists, his face inches away from Rick's. He only remembered wondering if he wanted to fight and his arm numbly went to the inside of his coat.

 _ **Blink.**_ _"Give mme a reason,"_ he growled with a slight slur. _"I dare you."_

People screamed, the sound pierced his ears and he winced, bringing his hands up to his ears and dropping to his knees. The need to escape overrode his confusion (seriously, _why_ did he need to escape again?) and he fired his portal gun on the ground to leave. But wait…why was there a steaming hole in place of a green portal? Rick looked at his hand and made a face. When in the fuck was his portal gun replaced with his _actual_ gun?

 _ **Blink.**_ He was laying face-down on grass. He didn't know where he was and he wasn't bothered by the fact that he spaced out when he travelled there. His mind was more preoccupied on the single memory that made Rick grit his teeth and clench his eyes shut, the memory that pieced together two important pieces of information.

 _The second Summer came stomping into his garage, he'd noticed the scars on her arms, but he didn't think much of them. It wasn't until she asked him for liquor that he examined her, determining whether or not he should tell her to fuck off, and he realized those scars were actually_ burn scars _. To make matters worse, when he was helping her up to his room, he wrapped her arm around his neck and saw their dimension_ branded _into her wrist. The mark was sloppy, each little slash making up a letter or number was undoubtedly pressed separately into her skin, probably as a result from not being able to answer their questions._

 _He snapped. He wanted to find the Gromflomites that did that to her and break their limbs with his bare hands, stomp in their heads with his heels, and bash their exoskeletons to a pulp with something, anything—_

"Ffuck!" Rick slammed his fist on the ground. _He had known_ and he'd been eating a fucking cookie while it had happened to her.

"… _I don't think it's the best idea to ask her what torture she just saw when she couldn't keep watching…"_

"Motherfuckers!" he yelled at the skies. "I'm goin' tuh fuckin' KILL YOU!"

 _She tripped and he grabbed her arm. Clearly, she wasn't going to make it up the stairs without falling backwards and bashing her skull in. Rolling his eyes, he wrapped her arm around his neck and something caught his eye._ C-137… _engraved right into her wrist..._

"… _You could have taken me."_

As trashed as he was, he clearly needed more if the fucking memories were bothering him now.

" _Mom and Dad were fine and happy. But not me." Her voice cracked involuntarily._

Rick pulled out what he hoped was his gun-gun and he opened fire at the tree stump in front of him. He yelled, shooting again and again and again until the tree wasn't even a steaming stump. There was debris on his face and in his hair and he felt a strange twinge of déjà vu, but all in all he didn't care. He threw his gun at the stump and reached in his coat for his flask. _Please let there be more. Please just let there be a little bit more._ To his relief, there was and he flopped over on his back, downing a gulp of whiskey.

 _The scars had further influenced his decision into reluctantly agreeing to Summer's request, what sealed the deal, however, was the pained_ look _she had in her eyes. A look he was all too familiar with, the mental exertion of fighting off certain memories, cursed experiences that automatically replayed themselves in every resting moment. He saw himself reflected in her eyes and he knew that whiskey would help numb her emotions towards her mental horror show._

 _Wubba lubba dub du—_

He stared at the star-filled sky above him and wondered why he even cared.

 _He was surprised when SM1 Gutler's head exploded and blue blood splattered everywhere. The other soldier, SM1 Mague, jumped to his feet and brought his weapon up to fire, but she shot him in the shoulder. Everything was happening too fast for anyone to take a single second to think, so Summer didn't have the time to properly aim for his head, but something was better than nothing._

" _Your chains!" she pointed her weapon at Rick's feet and shot the chains off as soon as he lifted his legs. Out of his peripherals, Rick saw Mague point his weapon at Summer and he immediately kicked at the bug-shit's knees. It didn't do much since Rick wasn't able to use a lot of force in the spur of the moment, however it_ did _bring Mague's attention to him. He pointed the gun at Rick instead and was on the verge of firing._

" _No!" In her desperation, Summer quickly fired her gun and shot Mague multiple times—_

She helped him and Morty escape the Federation, biiiig fucking deal. It's not like she died, which is something people _have_ done for him in the past. And here he was, years later, with no preference towards them, no intention to _ever_ bat an eye for them. Yet with Summer, those rules pretty much went out the window. He hated it, he hated that he couldn't figure out why it was that way. Or maybe…he hated the fact that he _knew_ what it was, but refused to believe that he allowed himself to feel that way, let himself to drop his guard.

" _Run, Morty, run!" Rick grabbed the closest person and shoved him towards the agents. His luck was the fucking worst._ Of course _the Feds would so happen to bust the black market the day he and Morty went. He needed that herb for his development of the space-AIDS medication. It's planet of origin wasn't providing a suitable environment for it anymore, its inhabitants were poisoning the planet much like humans did to Earth. He figured he'd take the risk if he could just get a sample from the black market._

 _The thought was pushed out of his head when he ran into Morty, nearly sending them both tumbling to the ground._

" _Morty!" Rick snapped._

 _But Morty didn't seem to notice. "Uhhh, Rick?"_

 _A militarized Summer stood in front of them, plasma rifle held at bay in her hands. Her uniform and her tactical gear were all black and her hair was pulled into a low bun. Different emotions welled up on her face, disbelief, confusion…relief? It seemed like a tsunami of feelings just crashed down on her and then it was as if her military training kicked in and her expressions dropped, leaving a stone-cold glare that didn't suit her one bit. "Rick Sanchez, Morty Smith, don't move a single muscle. You're under arrest by The Galactic Federatio—"_

Her expression was haunting, she was torn between being happy and being….Rick didn't know. He couldn't pinpoint the other emotion to this day. He took another gulp of whiskey and he stared at the night sky, it's mesmerizing violet hues were relaxing him. Involuntarily, he let out a yawn and ignored the itching he felt around his body, probably as a result of all that bark.

" _Why aren't you at the school dance?"_

"Piece of shit," he mumbled, bringing his hand up to rest on his forehead. "I'mm…a piece of shit. She's…"

" _Ugh, screw that, it's flu season. I don't want to get sick."_

"…Juss' a kid…"

 _ **Blink.**_ Rick's head was turned to the side, his flask in his opposite hand. He looked up at the sky and noticed the hue was a little darker. Was it him, or were his eyes just getting continually heavier? Yeahhhh….it would be a bad idea to fall asleep on a random planet. He could be killed by its natural predators, especially if he were to just pass out in the open.

 _ **Blink.**_ He brought his flask up, but there wasn't any alcohol left in it. Where in the fuck…? He didn't remember drinking all of it.

"… _Rick, I want to ask for a favor…"_

"… _I don't know what type of drunk you'll be…"_

 _He glanced to see what she was fucking with and the second he saw her shakily trying to lift the gun, he snatched it away—_

 _ **Blink.**_ What the fuck was that wet shit around his mouth? Was it…drool? Oookay, it was time to get out of there. He sat up and forced his eyes as wide open as he could get them, pulling his portal gun (yes, he was positive it was his portal gun this time) out of his coat. The coordinates that were on the screen seemed familiar. Whyyyy? Why was it—Oh! He quickly scanned the area, his eyes taking a few seconds to adjust to the dark. He couldn't see the shapes exactly, but it was familiar enough.

 _His anger took the best of him the second he got back to the garage. He threw his tool across the garage, followed by his chair, and he smashed his project on the floor, stomping on it again and again until it was a dented piece of scrap metal. He could feel an animal-like scream on the verge of coming out and he yanked his portal gun out, punching in the coordinates of somewhere he knew he could take out his remaining fury—_

—the same coordinates as—

 _Was he still yelling? It was hard to tell over the sound of his gun firing non-stop, obliterating everything that stood in view._

The field he was in looked like it had just been through a fire or an explosion. Tree stumps of different shapes and sizes stretched as far as he could see and there deep holes that exposed raw dirt, they looked like…craters? Did he…he did all of this? Leveled a field?

 _ **Blink.**_ He was sprawled out on the floor again, his portal gun held loosely in his hand. There was no way he was going to be able to fight off the weariness that continuously threatened to take him out. He punched in the coordinates to get back home and shot a portal on the ground in front of him, as there were no vertical structures for it to latch onto. He started to crawl, but winced at feeling the glass shards in his forearm.

How did he get those again? Right, from breaking his bottle of liquor when he finished it. Fuck it. Once again, he resorted to grabbing fistfuls of grass and pulling himself towards the green hole. Yup. This was gonna hurt. He fell through the portal and crashed onto his working table, landing on the ground, but as much pain as he was in, the exhaustion won and his vision became increasingly blurry as his eyes shut….

… _Juss' a…kid…_

…for the final time that night.

* * *

 **So, now with our new episode of Rick and Morty, I guess my story is kind of a separate cannon, type thing. :/ *Shrug***

 **It took me a while to write this one up because I didn't know how I wanted to format it, I originally wanted two separate flashbacks, but it didn't sit well with me. So I did this. I like it, FINALLY, after writing and writing, moving and adding, and here it is.**

 **Thank you so much for the reviews. :D It's so very encouraging, and I hope you all like this chapter as well (as confusing as it may be).**

 **Szechuan sauce for everyone! *Fist Pump***

 **UPDATE: I've cleaned this chapter up a little. I guess I want to clear up the part where Rick was 'black out blinking' at the bar a little. I hope I made it understandable (what with my confusing writing in this part) that Rick threw up on someone's feet and the alien was going to get in a fight, but Rick pulled his gun-gun on him. Other than that...Yeah I've got nothing else.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Morty didn't know how he was able to keep running, his heart was already pounding a million times per minute! His throat was constricted and he panted twice as fast as he sprinted past the lasers flying left and right. Gromflomite blood sprayed on the walls of the corridor, but through all the chaos, Morty chose to focus on his sister's words._

" _Run, Morty! To the end of the corridor!"_

 _She and Rick covered their little group flawlessly, but they had to be fast if they wanted a chance to escape for soon, they'd be overwhelmed in numbers. They reached a keypad at the end of the hall, Rick and Summer spun around to keep shooting while Morty's fingers hovered over the numbers. "What's the code?!"_

" _4733!" Summer shouted over her shoulder._

 _The boy wanted to yell in frustration; it was so hard to type it in when he was shaking so damn much! The door opened, allowing them to sprint through to find Rick's spaceship. Morty was only grateful that Summer was guiding them to it because everything looked the same under the flashing red lights._

" _Rick, check to make sure your engine's complete!" Summer yelled. "They may have dismantled it!"_

" _Pfft, OBVIOUSLY I was going to do that," Rick rolled his eyes, tossing his gun to Morty and sprinting ahead of the siblings. They reached his ship and he slammed his fist on the hood a few times to open it while Morty stood in shock, unsure what to do._

" _Uhhh, R-Rick?"_

" _Keep us covered, Morty!" he snapped without looking, moving insanely fast as he flipped open the hood and made sure everything was copacetic._

 _The boy's head was pounding, making it hard to think clear much less to act. It was like he was frozen in place, only able to watch his grumpy grandpa curse under his breath while he did his check. He tried to draw in a breath to relax, but even he thought it sounded a little shaky. He wished he had the sense to call Rick out on a bad idea when he heard it, however the detail slipped past him when Rick explained their visit to Rondalorp._

The Galactic Federation oAUUGHwns this planet, Morty, _he'd said._ Those bug fucks could appear at any moment, so w-we're paying a visit to this guy I know, MoAUUGHorty, and getting the fuck outta here.

" _Morty!"_

 _The boy's breath was knocked out of his lungs and he flew forward, hitting the ground hard._

" _Aagh!"_

 _Morty twisted around and saw his sister on top of him, her face contorted in pain. "Summer?!"_

 _She rolled off him, her hand covering a bloody wound. If Morty thought he was panicking before, boy was he wrong. He was hyperventilating and his arms shaking a lot worse. With a lot of grunting, Summer used her good arm to get to her feet. She grabbed her gun with her bad hand, using her good hand to put some pressure on her wounded shoulder._

" _Get to the—Get to the ship, Morty," she heaved, grimacing as she gestured to it._

 _He glanced back and once he saw Rick slam the hood shut, he jumped into action. Firing wildly in the Gromflomites direction, he stood defensively in front of his sister. "Go! I'm behind you!"_

 _She stumbled to the passenger side of the ship and got in, Morty taking a few final shots before boarding after her._

" _All right, let's get the fuck outta here!" Rick flicked some switches on his dashboard and pulled on the steering wheel, blasting a hole to fly out. His maneuvers were sharp and since the siblings didn't buckle in, they had to brace themselves with whatever they could grasp. "Morty, I need you to make concentrated dark matter before they regroup!"_

 _Heart pounding, Morty looked back at Summer—who was covered in sweat, her bun falling apart—and he gagged at how charred the flesh on her shoulder really was. Seeing his bulging eyes, Summer quickly covered her wound and clenched her jaw before saying, "I'm fine."_

 _Morty turned to his grandpa. "Rick, S-Summer was shot! We need to take her to some hospital!"_

" _Really Morty?" Rick tried to peer behind them to see if any Gromflomite ships were following. "We're busting outta custody and you want to go to a fucking hospital? What good will that do when they BLOW THAT SHIT UP?"_

" _I-I-I-I-Isn't there someone that you know that could help her?"_

" _She's lucky enough I let her get on my ship after turning us in," Rick gulped down a drink from his flask. "That's about as much help as any parasitic bureaucrat is getting froEUGHm me."_

 _His dismissive behavior towards her angered Morty. He hadn't even looked at her since they've escaped!_

" _No, you know what? Y-Y-Y-You knew the Feds owned the planet, so if they caught us, it's_ your _fault!"_

" _Morty we don't have time for this!" Rick said forcefully. "They're going to catch us if you don—Fine, if you don't wanna make it, take the wheel!"_

" _No Rick! I'm not doing_ a-anything _until you promise to help Summer!"_

" _Do you want to go to space prison, you little shit?!"_

" _I don't want Summer to die!"_

" _FINE. But first we need to get the fuck outta this secto—"_

Morty threw a fist on his alarm clock and sat up, wearily rubbing his face. Barely awake as he got dressed for the day, he shuffled to the kitchen when he was ready to go, dropping his backpack on the ground to grab a quick bite. It was only when he was halfway through chugging his Sunny D that he started to feel somewhat alive and with that, he noted the tension that lingered in the air. Hmm. Maybe things felt a little awkward and weird that morning because of Summer, _his_ Summer.

 _It feels more like…guilt._ His stomach whirled in confirmation. _Yup. Definitely guilt._

Morty went to the sliding back doors and looked out, his eyes immediately landing on the two dirt mounds in the far corner of the yard. There should have been _three_ mou—Wait. Did he really think that? A twinge of shame mixed in with his guilt and he went back to the kitchen, glad the only thing he'd had so far was a Sunny D. The other Summer walked in, her attention focused entirely on her phone, and Morty jumped a little as if she caught him with his hand in a cookie jar.

She glanced up and went to the fridge. "Hey you little turd."

"H-Hey Summer." Morty opened his mouth to say something else, but he realized he was on the verge of _apologizing._ Stuffing some cookies in his mouth to shut up, he grabbed an extra handful with another Sunny D and left the kitchen to go upstairs for the final time that morning.

* * *

 _To Summer's horrifying realization she was in prison, her hands strapped up by leather restraints. She was in the middle of the holding cells, in view of all the prisoners, their shouts undistinguishable to her._

" _All right, Sanchez scum," a Gromflomite scowled at her, using the nickname they'd given her. They knew she her surname was Smith, her file said so and she'd been brave enough to correct them a few times before, but they didn't care. Rick Sanchez was her grandfather which automatically made her 'his' scum. The soldier rubbed its pincers together in a gesture that resembled a human cracking its knuckles and produced an electric rod. "This time, you're going to tell us where he is, or I'm going to stick this inside you and shock you 'til your heart stops."_

 _They couldn't make expressions, but his sick tone of satisfaction made her want to throw up. She was pretty sure if he could've, he would've smirked at her in the most disgusting manner._

" _No," Summer shook her head slowly, her eyes welling up with tears as she saw the soldier approached. "No."_

 _She looked up and struggled hopelessly against the restraints. "No!"_

 _Before she knew it, the soldier had yanked her orange pants off and the wolf calls from the inmates made her cheeks burn. She didn't dare look up, didn't dare to acknowledge them, because if she did she'd break out into sobs. She was forced to keep her head hung and the Gromflomite looked up at her, pressing the button on the rod and chuckling in a sadistic manner. No amount of kicking would stop this, but she tried anyway and clenched her eyes shut, wishing it would sto—_

 _She was running through the house, panic gripping at her heart. The front door was right there, she could make it!_

" _Stop her and go find the boy."_

 _The door opened and one of the dogs stepped through with its robotic structure, making her skid to a halt._

" _Who'll take care of you if you run away?" he mocked, grabbing her roughly and forcing her to turn. Other dogs rushed around in the house and left through the backdoor, armed with what looked like net guns._

" _Snuffles, please, don't do this," Summer pleaded._

 _The white dog stopped in front of them and lowered himself to be at eye-level with her. "Why shouldn't I? Humans are a cruel species who care about nothing but themselves, like your grandfather."_

" _No, you're wrong. Grandpa Rick cares about_ us _," Summer said defiantly. "And he's going to stop you."_

 _Snuffles stood. "How are you so sure? He escaped with Morty and your parents. I imagine he thinks they'll evade the consequences of your species' complacency."_

 _She shook her head forcefully. "No! That's a lie, they wouldn't leave without me!"_

" _He left you behind to keep his pack an even number," Snuffles said. "What use would he have for an odd one out?"_

 _Angry tears formed and Summer used the back of her hand to clear her eyes. "Shut u—!"_

 _She wiped away the tears of pure joy that had formed as a result of smiling so widely and the gym echoed with cheers, whistles and claps. She stood proudly at the podium in the center with Mr. Meeseeks by her side, who clapped along with the student population._

" _Summer, Summer, Summer!" the blue man started fist pumping, riling everyone on._

 _The ginger let out a chuckle in disbelief and she brought her hands up to her mouth. Mr. Meeseeks had done it, she was going to be popular!_

" _Summer, Summer, Summer!" The chant slowly started to change and rather than approving of Summer's new-found place with the popular crowd, it started to sound like they were convicting her of something. Her smile faded and she glanced around in confusion before the gym doors burst open and a swarm of Meeseeks piled in._

" _There she is!" the one in the front pointed a barbed-wired bat at her. "Let's get her!"_

" _What? No! What did I do?" she backed away from the podium, her hands held in front of to keep the blue mob at bay. She was suddenly jerked to the side and the Meeseeks that she summoned had a knife pressed against her throat._

" _Once we kill you, we can ALL disappear," he said, his black eyes flashing in a hunger-like trance._

" _Wha-Who told you to kill me?" she stuttered out through her constricted vocal chords._

" _General Vaunting."_

 _Summer's blood froze and her throat tightened._

" _You failed your mission, you went AWOL, you're under perjury of the GMCC."_

 _The Galactic Military Code of Conduct, it was taught during basic training. One of its laws was that if you just disappeared from their armed forces, 'went AWOL' like she did, they would come after you. She shook her head. "No…"_

" _And we won't stop until you DIE."_

" _NO!"_

 _Mr. Meeseeks brought the knife back and stabbed her twice in the stomac—_

 _Summer winced at her cramps and ate a mouthful of popcorn. If the tightness in her stomach got any worse, she'd have to go up to get her heating pad. A tangy scent filled her nose and she looked over at Grandpa Rick, who was eating a separate bowl of popcorn drowned in…an some kind of an alien sauce. Summer wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, Grandpa that's gross."_

 _Rick licked his fingers. "Sorry Summer, but your opinion means very little to me."_

 _She merely rolled her eyes and continued watching Pregnant Baby._

" _Why aren't you at this stupid dance that everybody loves so much?" he asked._

" _Ugh, screw that. It's flu season, I don't want to get sick."_

 _Rick suddenly froze. "It's flu season?"_

" _Yeah."_

 _He tossed his bowl on the coffee table in front of them and practically jumped over the sofa. "Shit, fucking Morty!"_

" _Huh?" Summer watched him run off with a cocked eyebrow. Those two must have created some sort of nuisance from one of their adventures._

 _Right,_ their _adventures, she thought with a pang of jealousy. Pushing the thought out of her mind with a quick shake of her head, she watched TV until her show was interrupted by some emergency news broadcas—_

" _She wasn't lying."_

 _She opened her eyes and found herself strapped in…some sort of machine. Ugh, she was so tired…and thirsty. She suddenly wished that they'd have decided to almost drown her again with another interrogation, but one had to be careful of what they wished for, huh? Swallowing hard, Summer blinked back the blurriness, recognizing their manipulative machine and her heart stopped. She_ hated _it. It had the dual capability of producing memories or manipulating them which was mentally damaging when the Gromflomites used it for torture. She'd heard the meanest, toughest aliens cry in their cell walls after a session on it._

" _There is no other memory of Rick Sanchez after that."_

… _ **Today, they're going to execute me. I hope you don't mind if I talk to you.**_

" _Hm."_

 _ **Why, you 'Sanchez Scum.' Heh, I know the rest of these assholes won't care.**_

" _What should we do with her?"_

 _ **I don't care…I guess…I just need someone to talk to before I die, y'know? Let a few things off my chest.**_

" _For now, put her back on her cell. I need to update the General."_

… _ **I regret dying in here, but I guess it's my fault for choosing a shitty crew and…for doing the same to the ones caught before me. What's that…entity your species has? The one that gets even with you for the stuff you've done?**_

" _Roger that."_

 _ **Karma. Right, that's it. That's what I think this is.**_

" _Oh and bring Vector Bravo-15 in here for final evaluation."_

But….Vector Bravo-15 is dead, _Summer's mind said._ He poured his heart out to me on the day of his execution.

 _Two soldiers moved to untie Summer from the restraints of the machine and she landed on wobbly feet. It didn't help that one of the two shoved her forward as she tried to recompose herself from her thoughts. Out of her peripherals, she saw the same soldier bring up the butt of his weapon and move it with one quick motion, suddenly turning her world blac—_

Summer was a little confused when she woke up in a rather dark room. Part of her confusion was also grogginess as her nightmare forced her awake. Regardless, this was reality, she was sure of it, she could feel her heart pounding in fear from the topics of her dreams, but…wasn't there supposed to be a holographic system? She vaguely remembered Rick leaving it on for her and seeing her to bed, but maybe that was a dream too. It seemed unlikely that Rick Sanchez would ever come close to doing something like that.

After taking a few seconds to pull herself together, Summer became aware enough to realize that the room was only _kind of_ dark because of the sunlight that slipped through the blinds. She frowned and curled up tighter. _What time was it anyway?_

The thought was pushed aside as her heavy heart brought about a depressing highlight of her nightmares.

 _Vector Bravo-15…_ The one alien to have regrettably been executed….who opened up to Summer for some strange reason. _He needed someone to confess to in his last moments. I hope it helped lighten the weight off his shoulders._

Curse her sub-conscious for mixing him in after so long. It wasn't fair.

 _ **What's worse is…they messed with my head, they brought my fami—**_

She decided to distract herself and asked herself what time it was again. Hopefully there'd be a clock somewhere, but her eyes were met with a small bottle of Sunny D and a handful of cookies.

 _ **Do you have anyone you aspire to see if you get the chance to get out of here?**_

Her heart skipped a beat in joy. This didn't feel like it was done by Rick's hand, but it was a small gesture that made her feel protected and not…as lonely as before.

"… _ **.Honestly, I don't."**_

It meant a lot to her, so much so that she was all bubbly and warm inside. It was a feeling she hadn't had in a long time, a feeling she wished Vector Bravo would have had the chance to experience before he was killed.

 _ **I don't either. Not anymore.**_

 _Oh Vector…I'm sorry._

What was worse is that she didn't know his real name. Vector Bravo-15 was his prison name. She never even saw him, he just started talking to her after she endured the Feds drowning her during one of their interrogations. She remembered wanting to pass out from exhaustion, but she was drenched in water and she shivered violently. When Vector started talking, she thought she was dreaming.

 _ **Heh, well for the time being, you've got me Smith.**_

 _Not anymore,_ a small voice in the back of her mind replied. _I have Rick and Morty._

Drowsiness grew heavier and began to cloud her thoughts. She snuggled comfortably in the cot, for she was safe. No one was taking her like they took Vector.

 _If they tried…_

A smile unconsciously formed on her lips, her joy revealing itself through her sluggishness.

" _Th-They won't kick you out. Rick won't let them."_

She felt happy that finally, after what happened with the Gromflomites and their manipulation, she was safe because _…_

 _He'd be there to stop them._

* * *

 **Yeah...nothing much to say right now. o_o I think I might just add a note later.**

 **UPDATE: Yes, yes okay. Time for the added note I was talking about. So the first italic part is a memory. The second is a dream (as you learn later on). I wanted to kinda transition between the segments of the dreams, as they do in-well, in real life-and I hope I got to accomplish that, though I wish it was a little...darker.** **ANYWAY *Claps Hands Dramatically* there will more than likely be a shift in the pace because I can start to feel my interest slipping away...**


	6. Chapter 6

Summer walked home from school in a dazed manner, her arms crossed tightly in front of her. Her cellphone chimed from texts, but was otherwise left untouched in her back pocket. She didn't think this was possible, but she was in no mood to even _touch it_ after what she saw today in fact, she was still trying to wrap her head around it. Those sounds…those horrible, _horrible_ sounds. No matter how many times she shook her head, her throat wouldn't loosen up from the memory of it. Ignorance was bliss and after all of her research today, her logic….

 _Summer and her parents were chained in their backyard like dogs. Hugging herself to keep warm, she looked at them. "I can't believe how mean Snuffles got just because he's smart. This is why I choose to have C—"_

….only seemed to be justified. It seemed that the more anyone ever learned, the more damage it caused whether it be to others, or to themselves for having to live with unpleasant knowledge.

 _The ginger was dwelling with her frustration as she jumped onto one of the couches. After all of her hard work, she ended up being benched for Squanchy's after-party because of Nancy. His words rang in her mind, how he said she was too much of a bitch to tag along._ _ **It's not fair. I didn't do anything.**_

 _She was so busy thinking, she barely noticed that two of the guests from the party had stayed behind, the hybrid bird-man and Tammy._

" _Do you need assistance?" the hybrid asked Morty, who was still freaking out over the mess._

 _ **We DO need to start cleaning soon…**_ _Summer sighed in irritation. She would've pushed the urge to take action in the back of her mind, but for some damn reason she overheard what the pair said next._

" _Morty do you know what wubba lubba dub dub means?"_

" _It's just some crazy, made-up catch phrase Rick always says."_

" _In my language it means, 'Help me. I am in deep pain.' It is why Rick must numb himsel—"_

Summer frowned at the memory. _**What kind of awful things does Grandpa Rick know about anyway? Is it why he has to 'numb himself'?**_

It would make sense. The smartest person in the universe with interdimensional access would know a thing or two about any horrors the cosmos hid. What they could be, Summer didn't want to know, and for a fleeting moment she was glad she wasn't like Grandpa. She walked the rest of the way to her house hoping that no one would approach her. She reached the house and opened the door. Dad and the other Summer were watching TV in the living room and they looked at her as she went inside.

"Summer. Are….you okay?" Dad asked.

She opened her mouth to reply, but her body had different plans in mind. Tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't force her voice out no matter how hard she tried.

" _Today we're starting our persuasive essays," Mrs. Sorenty announced after the bell rang. "I'm assigning you each your topic and then we're heading over to the library so you can start your research."_

She wanted to lie, she wanted to say that she was fine however, the word _I_ was stuck in her throat. _**I'M FINE, just say it!**_

"I..."

"… _aaand Summer. You're topic is going to be animal testing." Mrs. Sorenty scribbled in her notepad. "You'll be writing from a negative point of view."_

 _Summer rolled her eyes and slouched back in her chair. "Ugh. Lame."_

"….I—" She couldn't do it. Before she knew it, she'd bolted up the stairs and into her room. From past experiences, she knew her dad wouldn't come up to console her, just hearing the calm, muffled tone of his voice confirmed it, but somehow it was better that way. Summer wiped her tears away and pulled her phone out, turning the screen on to see who'd texted her. It was mainly people from school talking about useless things and she decided to reply because maybe it would help her forget what she'd seen.

 _The final video she could stand to watch was about a group of scientists forcefully shoving something down a monkey's throat. Summer had taken her earbuds out a few videos before, as the sounds were too much for her to handle, but these monkey's anguished cries could be heard through them and she had to mute the video. Helpless, horrified, she watched the poor animal struggle and writhe in pain only to have one of the scientists hit it to make it go still._

 _Her breathing became clipped._ _ **How can people DO stuff like this?**_

 _The scientists motioned for the others to help him and one of them stepped up to help hold the monkey's mouth open._

 _ **How would they like it if that happened to them?**_

 _The other scientist slapped the monkey again and opened it's mouth forcefully, allowing the other one to take what looked like a tube and ram it down it's throat. Summer felt nauseous and she put her phone down. She could only think of ways she would help the poor thing if SHE'D been there, maybe yelled at those assholes for actually enjoying it too._

" _What the hell is wrong with you?!" she envisioned herself screaming. "You sick fucks, leave it ALONE! If you EVER hurt another animal again I'm gonn—"_

 _ **Is it over yet?**_ _She risked a peek and flinched when she saw that it wasn—"_

Summer's blood froze when she unlocked her screen and saw the video paused on YouTube. _**How would I handle it if I were in it's place? I'd freaking die.**_

Someone knocked on her door, surprising her greatly, and she heard C-137's muffled voice. "Summer, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Summer choked at the end of her sentence and she mentally kicked herself. If anyone tried to console her at this point, she'd surely break down.

"I'm coming in." The door opened slowly and Summer turned away so C-137 wouldn't see her tears.

"I said I was fine, okay?" she said with a (surprisingly) strong tone. "I don't need your help with anything."

The door creaked shut, but there were light footsteps walking over to her. _**Crap, crap.**_

"You don't need to act tough, you're me. I know myself enough to know when I'm sad about something."

Summer didn't say anything.

"….What happened? Did someone at school hurt you? Do I need to kick some ass for both of us?"

It was a weak attempt at trying to make a joke, but the thought of C-137 fighting the bullies at school was too amusing to _not_ make her feel better. She held her phone out for C-137 and crossed her arms when she took it, hearing her mumble a quick _"What's this?"_ before she played the video.

Summer closed her eyes when she heard those screams and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. She really didn't feel like talking because chances were her voice would be quivering, but she preferred that over hearing this. "We were assigned topics for our papers in English today. I got con-animal testing."

The screams continued and she heard smug laughter from the scientists. _**It's too much. I can't listen to thi—**_

There was a thud. Puzzled, Summer turned around and saw her phone on the floor, her counterpart stood shaking in the center of the room. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Now it was she who stayed quiet, her attention stuck on her hands in front of her. Summer stood and rushed to her aid, lowering herself to look up at C-137's face. But she was dazed, her eyes locked on her hands as the video continued to play out. Summer quickly realized that it must have triggered a memory or something and she quickly bent down to pause it, standing up to lead her counterpart for a seat on her bed. Fuck! What did people do in situations like this? "Oh my gosh, do you, like, do you need some water or something? Do you want me to get you anything?"

C-137's eyelids fluttered and she nodded quickly, swallowing hard. "Y-Yeah."

"Okay." Summer hurried out of her room, feeling shaky herself, and she passed Morty, who was standing in the doorway to his room. It sounded like he was talking to someone, probably Rick, but she didn't stop to check. However, he noticed her.

"Hey Summer. Is everything o-o-okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, I just—I gotta get some water for the other Summer. She—"

"Is she okay?"

"Ugh, don't fucking tell me something happened to her while I was asleep," came Grandpa Rick's under-the-weather reply from inside Morty's room.

Summer ignored him. "Yeah, she's sitting in my room. Everything's fine. I'll be back up."

She went to get a glass of water and came back up to find Morty inside her room with Rick wrapped up in a thin bed sheet, looking more rugged than usual. Immediately, she was hit with a foul scent that she knew came from Grandpa Rick, but she ignored it along with any urge to quip with a snarky comment. She didn't feel like it at the moment, her priority being to make sure C-137 was okay. Taking a seat next to her, she gave her the glass of water as Rick handed Morty a piece of paper and his portal gun, sounding more tired than grumpy when he spoke.

"Go to those coordinates and get those ingredients. DON'T look at the Poroxians for too long or they'll get pissed and kick you out of the store." Rick rubbed his temples. "The last thing I want to deal with is Inderun and his little bitch ass today so don't fuck up."

"Aw jeez, okay Rick. I-I-I'll try."

Morty read the coordinates off the paper and shot a green portal in Summer's room. After he disappeared, Rick burped and turned to leave the room. "You better not have any plans Summer, I'm going to need your help when I—when I waEUGHHke up."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to _my_ room to sleep since she's up and at 'em. Don't bother me until then."

Summer noticed the red stains on the sheet. "Why is there blood? Did you hurt yourself on an adventure or something?"

"I'm not in the mood to answer stupid questions right now, _Summer,_ " he said, walking out without looking back.

"You should at least clean up!" Summer called after him. "You're in _desperate_ need of a shower!"

"Ugh," was all he said. Wow. He must have really been out of it to not hit her back with his usual rude replies, so Summer let him go without another word.

* * *

The only reason why C-137 left the room earlier in the day was to eat. It was sometime after noon so the only ones in the house were Jerry and herself. (She remembered he was unemployed when she was forced to exchange awkward pleasantries on her way to the kitchen.) Jerry continued to watch TV in the living room while she rummaged through the fridge and pantries. More than once, she caught herself shoveling food down so she reminded herself to relax.

 _ **I hate chow time.**_ _The thought flashed through her mind, without fail, as she stepped into the mess decks. Even with the Galactic Correctional Officers' whip on behavior, something_ always _managed to happen. The decorations that were strung around in celebration of the alien holiday made her freeze for a second. Everything looked so different, like it was from another dimension._ _ **Right. A different dimension.**_

 _With a quick shake of her head, she quickened her pace to keep in line with her division. Something caught her feet and she pushed the Gromflomite in front of her as she hit the deck hard. In true military fashion, the mess decks were silent, no one made a remark or even laughed, making the experience a million times worse. To Summer, it seemed that the silence made her more of a spectacle and when she met all the red eyes trained on her, her cheeks burned in humiliation. As one of her GCOs stomped over to the commotion, she saw a Gromflomite swing his leg under the table he was at. He'd tripped her._

 _Summer glared at him._ _ **Son of a bitch.**_

" _What are you doing, human ape?!" the GCO yelled over her. "Wasting my division's time with your clumsiness?!"_

 _Neither the yelling nor the electric rods the GCOs carried bothered her as much as it would have in the past. She'd already been through the worst. However, her heart still pounded because she was aware of all those red eyes watching her every microscopic move._

" _No, sir, I just—"_

" _LEARN SOME MILITARY BEARING, APE," the GCO pointed the electric rod at her in a threatening manner. "I am not an officer, you don't call me sir. I'm a Correctional and you will address me as such, understand? And I know your species must LOVE crawling around on all fours, but it's not accepted here. Get on your feet."_

 _A few snickers rang out in the mess decks, making Summer's blood boil. She understood discipline but being embarrassed was something else. Clenching her jaw, she looked from the rod to the Correctional with an uninterested expression and slowly stood before going into attention. "Yes, Correctional."_

 _The GCO tapped his electric rod in the air a few times, making a mental note of something before he stepped back and gestured for the rest of the division to pass by. "You will be the last one in line to eat. Everyone will have five minutes to finish eating from the time you sit down, understood?"_

 _ **Five minutes?!**_ _Summer's eyes widened and she looked over at him quickly. Later that evening there was going to be a shooting simulation, which usually required running and heavy lifting. If she didn't eat now…._ _ **I'll faint during it. I'll make my team lose!**_

 _The GCO seemed to know what she was thinking and he laughed at her surprise. Summer clenched her jaw again and exhaled._ _ **Son of a bitch.**_

 _After taking a seat with the rest of her division, she wasted no time in shoveling food in her mouth, gulping down her drink as her division was called to stan—_

The ginger blinked away the memory and slowed down on her sandwich once again; she had time now, after all. After cleaning her mess, she reluctantly decided to join Jerry in the living room. There was absolutely no way she was just going to sit in Rick's room and have her memories eat away her sanity. The channels on TV were simply astounding, there was no way that they originated from Earth. Noting a purple crystal protruding from the cable box, Summer realized Rick tampered with it to broadcast programs from the entire universe. Pretty cool.

The sad thing about it was that Jerry was using it to watch a movie that starred…himself? Voicing her confusion, Jerry explained to her that the channel they were on was from a dimension where he was a movie star. She wanted to watch something else, but she figured it wouldn't be worth the effort to fight him on it; his inevitable bitching would create more problems than anyone needed, so she forced herself to sit through his boring ass movie.

Hours passed. Summer couldn't have been happier when she the front door opened and the other Summer stepped through. While Jerry went through the usual greetings of 'How was school?' and all that, C-137 narrowed her eyes. Something was clearly (well…not so clearly in Jerry's case) wrong. She hadn't said a word since she stepped in the house and she looked like she was in shock.

"I….I…." She choked at the end of those two words, her hardened expression quickly fell apart to a saddened mess, and before she bolted up the stairs to her room, C-137 saw a tear slide down her face.

"Summer, what—?" Jerry watched her run up and turned his attention back to his TV. "I hope nothing bad happened."

 _Are you fucking kidding me, DAD?_ Summer scoffed. She forgot how shitty her parents were at parenting before the virus united them and honestly? It was pathetic. How she didn't end up running away before was a mystery. Standing up, she started up the stairs and muttered: "No such luck, you ass."

Seriously. If Jerry couldn't be a decent parent, she'd do his job for him. _That lazy—_

C-137 made it to Summer's door, went inside and tried her best to comfort her. The girls were the same person, C-137 could read Summer like a book, but they were still polar opposites of each other. It was hard trying to comfort someone like that, especially since she never had someone to comfort _her_ before in situations like these. When Summer gave up her cellphone, C-137 thought someone sent her a mean tweet or something and she was confused when she saw what looked like a video about a….monkey?

"What's this?" she muttered and tapped play.

What she saw next knocked the wind out of her so fast, she felt like she'd been kicked. The animal was strapped to a metal table in a room full of cages. Scientists littered the area and two of them worked on it, one held it's mouth open while the other took something and forced it in it's mouth. It writhed and tried to turn it's head, tried to shimmy away from the man, but it could only go so far.

 _After Summer was processed and forced to go through a polygram, she was changed into an orange jumpsuit and transported to another prison. She didn't like the looks of this place so far. Compared to the last prison, this one was smaller and it seemed more remote. There were more guards walking around and about three different fences surrounding the perimeter. Inside, rather than actual cells there were hexagonal shaped WALLS where the prisoners were strapped up on, their limbs spread across. With that, Summer was scared shitless. She didn't like how this prison operate—_

A voice scoffed. "Dumb shit's never gonna learn. Hit it again to keep it still."

 _She thought she would simply be left up on her wall for the remainder of her time here, but as soon as the little robot approached her and her wall started to move, she knew she was going to be in for a hell of a day. Her heart pounded while her wall followed the robot out of the holding area, Cronenberg Grandpa's words running through her mind the entire time._

Y-Y-Y-You can't let them get a hold of you Summer, _he'd said._ They may be the universe's official police force, but that doesn't mean they won't operate under the table if they need to.

 _ **This is like a black site, isn't it?**_ _Summer's heart pounded against her ribs and she tried to breathe slowly to calm down._ _ **Don't be stupid; that kind of stuff only exists on T—**_

The monkey's screams pierced her mind. She couldn't keep watching so she scrolled down and she got a glimpse of the description, which turned out to be a big mistake. Apparently, these guys were testing the effects of ingesting some kind of a chemical and to make it worse, the comments revealed that the chemical was known to eat through _anything._ So those "scientists" were just a bunch of sick sons of bitches.

" _We're only going to ask you once, Ms. Smith. Where is your grandfather, Rick Sanchez?"_

" _I refuse to answer any questions until I get my phone call." Summer was surprised she sounded so defiant considering she was petrified._

 _And in that moment, when she was struck and her head turned to the side, she knew she was fucked._

" _I don't know what you think this is, but here you don't have rights. You don't get any phone calls, or any lawyers," the alien bug sounded like it was mocking her. "What you will get is a lot of pain if you don't cooperate with us, so I'll ask you again: where is your grandfather, Rick Sanchez?"_

" _I. Don't. Kno—"_

The cellphone slipped through her fingers and hit the ground, but C-137 could barely process it.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

" _No, NO!" Summer screamed and pulled on the cuffs around her wrists, but it didn't do anything. A pair of pincers forced her head forward and before she knew it, her mouth was being opened, a funnel put in her mouth._

" _This, Sanchez Scum, is a truth serum of sorts," one of the bugs said as they forced a liquid down her throat. "Just as a fair warning, it will burn."_

 _Summer refused to be used and as an act of defiance, she gurgled and spit the liquid out._

" _That stupid human ape!" one yelled angrily, using an arm to wipe it's face clean. Another one took it upon himself to punch Summer in the stomach, effectively making her stop moving. It was the first time she ever heard herself cough like that or gasp in pain and little did she know it was going to get worse from them on ou—_

"Oh my gosh, do you, like, do you need some water or something?" What the—How long had she been sitting down for? "Do you want me to get you anything?"

 _Summer felt like she was going to drown. The serum burned as it went down her throat. When she coughed and it came out from her nose, it was like she'd sniffed some Vaporub. She desperately wanted to breathe, but the bugs were keeping her lips sealed over the funnel._

" _Thaaat's it. Be a good girl and drink all of i—"_

C-137 couldn't even nod completely. "Y-Yeah."

" _Where is Rick Sanchez?"_

" _Summer's face was contorted in pain. The last thing she wanted to do was tell these assholes anything, but the words flew out of her mouth without a second thought. "I…I don't know where MY version of Grandpa is, but Cronenberg Rick is on Earth."_

 _ **No, no, what are you doing?! Shut up, shut up!**_

" _Who is Cronenberg Rick?"_

 _ **Stop! You'll get them killed!**_

" _He's a monster version of Grandpa Rick."_

 _The bugs turned to each other questioningly. "There are….other versions of Sanchez?"_

 _Summer couldn't give them on answer on THAT, but for some reason, the serum made her feel obligated to chime in. "At first I thought that Grandpa had turned himself and Morty into one of those monsters, but Cronenberg Rick explained that they were different people. He and Cronenberg Morty came from a different reality."_

" _Morty?"_

" _It must be the boy that's been tagging along with Sanchez lately."_

" _Hm. Where did you say this version of Sanchez was on? Urth?"_

 _The reply was at the tip of her tongue, she was about to spurt it out, but her willpower resisted the urge._ _ **Don't. Give. Them. Up.**_ _"Uuuughh, FUCK YO—"_

"Summer, a-a-a-are you okay? What's wrong?" Morty appeared out of nowhere. "Rick! I think you better get in here."

" _If you think force feeding me some stupid chemical is going to get me to give up my family, think agai—"_

"Ughhh, what is it?" Rick's annoyed reply came from the hallway. "She better be more fucked up than I am, that's for sure."

"I'm fine," C-137 said, her voice unsure and shaky. "I'll be fine."

Out of her peripherals, she saw Rick stumble into Summer's room in a bloody bed sheet. Her nose wrinkled when she picked up a bad smell.

"Hm," Rick grunted when he saw her.

" _I told you the serum was still working out a few kinks."_

" _If the human can resist it, it won't work on stronger prisoners. We need to have it sent to the lab to revise it."_

" _Take her back to her wall. We've got enough information to work with for toda—"_

Rick asked Morty for some paper and a pencil (he couldn't remember the word for it, so he used his hand to make a scribbling gesture) while Summer came back with some water. After writing down a few things, Rick tore the piece of paper out of the notebook and gave it to Morty along with the portal gun, giving him some quick instructions before the boy left. While Summer and Rick exchanged a few words, C-137 tried to stop the shaking, but she couldn't so she just sipped her water quietly, her eyes glazed over by her memories.

* * *

 **Finally! I'm so happy I got to finish this part (so fast, as well). I was stuck on how I wanted to continue it and yesterday I had the idea to write this part from Summer's perspective so I'm just glad I got it out of the way (so quickly, I might add again).**

 **As much as I would have loved to add what kind of flashback C-137 was experiencing, I don't really think I want to at the moment. I'm satisfied with the part the way it is. Hey, maybe I'll add it later or something.**

 **So I wanted to clarify some things I probably won't be able to incorporate in the story later on. I had Rick sleep in Morty's room because C-137 was occupying his. His hangover is keeping him grounded to the house so he makes Morty go on a chore for him.**

 **Anyway, thank you for the support. It's really motivating! ^-^**

 **UPDATE: Okay, so I developed more on this chapter this morning because I remembered how I wrote about the incident in the mess halls, BUT I scrapped it out because I didn't think I could use it. Aside from that, I dunno, I wanted to write about that flashback she was having whilst watching said monkey video. So THIS is the final result, I hope it's at least decent. This is the longest part I've written so far! I dunno if that's a good thing or a bad thing. O_o**

 **So yeah. This whole part was inspired by something I went through in middle school, basically the same shit Summer goes through here. I was assigned an essay, I did some research, and yes. I did cry like a baby. My parents thought someone had bullied me at school or something. Animal abuse is horrible, even worse to listen to, in my opinion.**

 **So yeah. Enough rambling. Sorry about the revision, but here it is. *Shrug* Enjoy!**


End file.
